Pimblett Says Evloev "Quit" at UFC 333 — and the Feed Is Split on the Stoppage
Event: UFC 333: Volkanovski vs. Evloev — October 24, 2026, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
Image credit: UFC.com
The UFC 333 main event ended with six seconds left in round two. Four days later, it is still the fight everyone is arguing about — because Paddy Pimblett watched it live, said the quiet part out loud, and did not soften it afterwards.
Alexander Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev by technical knockout at 4:54 of the second round in Abu Dhabi, ending Evloev's 20-fight unbeaten run and keeping the featherweight title. [1] That part nobody disputes. What Pimblett disputes is how the ending looked.
The line that started it
Pimblett was filming a live reaction for his YouTube channel as the finish unfolded. As Volkanovski's ground-and-pound landed, he called it in real time, according to MMA Junkie's report of the video. [2]
"Some big shots there, is it over? It's over," Pimblett said. "Boom. Volk, man, gets the finish. Evloev quit there for me, just rolled over. When there's five seconds left, lad, you've just got to keep moving so the fight stays on. I mean, you can't start just covering up." [2]
That is the whole argument in one quote. Pimblett is not saying Evloev was winning, or that the referee was wrong to step in. He is saying a fighter with five seconds left in a round should keep moving, because covering up is what gets fights stopped. Sherdog's report of the same video carries the same line, word for word. [3]
Why the take landed so hard
Timing is part of it. Evloev arrived in Abu Dhabi 20-0, 10-0 in the UFC, with decision wins over Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen, Lerone Murphy and Aljamain Sterling behind him. [2] He had never lost, and he had never really been finished. So a second-round stoppage was already going to be picked apart frame by frame. Pimblett just gave the sceptics a slogan.
The other part is who said it. Pimblett is not a neutral pundit here. He called both title fights right on the night — "Two 'and stills'. I said Volk and Petr Yan to win, so I'm happy there," he said, adding that his predictions are not normally always right, but this time they were spot on. [4] He also gave Volkanovski the credit first, praising the champion's feints as the reason Evloev could not see the shots coming. [5] That makes the "quit" line harder to dismiss as sour grapes. It reads like a fighter watching a finish and judging the defence, not the result.
The other side of it
Evloev, to his credit, has offered no excuses. After the fight he praised the 38-year-old champion, describing Volkanovski as ageing like fine wine. [2] And the sequence itself was brutal: a big left hook and right cross sent Evloev to the canvas, and Volkanovski followed him down with unanswered blows before referee Marc Goddard stepped in. [1] Plenty of fans will tell you that is not quitting. That is what a finish looks like when the champion smells blood with seconds left in the round.
That is the split, really. One side sees a challenger who stopped fighting back at the worst possible moment. The other sees a champion who forced the stoppage, and a challenger who had simply run out of answers. Both sides watched the same six seconds.
For the full night, see our UFC 333 fallout roundup, the Volkanovski vs. Evloev head-to-head and the UFC 333 event page.
Sources
1. Reuters — Volkanovski keeps promise with quick win over Evloev at UFC 333
2. MMA Junkie — UFC star says Movsar Evloev 'just rolled over' in loss to Alexander Volkanovski
3. Sherdog — Paddy Pimblett says Movsar Evloev 'quit' against Alexander Volkanovski
4. Bloody Elbow — Paddy Pimblett accuses Movsar Evloev of 'quitting' in brutal assessment of his UFC 333 performance
5. MMA News — Paddy Pimblett Rips Movsar Evloev's Finish Against Alexander Volkanovski
Fight data compiled from public statistical sources (ufcstats.com) and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). OctagonStats is an independent database, not affiliated with UFC / TKO Group.